As I told Jambo, I didn't expect to be online much this weekend, however .....
Panzer Battles is presently included in the libraries of the premier military academies in the world: Sandhurst (Britain), West Point (America), and Frunze (Russia), and 2006 is the 50th anniversary of its original publishing date, 1956.
And my Mother, at some antique's sale, uncovered a 1971 hardcover copy, and sent it to me some months ago.
So, I think, okay, this is neat, a tactical recounting, probably of the African campaigns, so I set it on my shelf. Tonight I cracked it open to the preface, always a must to read in order to know who the author is, and something of why he wrote the book, and what he wishes to accomplish in terms of the reader's experience, and my jaw drops .... I had no idea of who the author was ... get a load of this, here's the preface:
This book is based on my experiences during World War II. As an officer of the German General Staff I took part in some of the greatest campaigns in Africa, Russia, and the west, and came into close contact with many of Germany's outstanding soldiers. For over a year I served on the personal staff of Field Marshall Rommel.
Perhaps I may be permitted to strike a personal note, and explain why I have ventured to make this contribution to the increasing flood of war literature. When the war broke out I was a captain on the staff of Third Army Corps in the invasion of Poland, and when it ended I was a major general chief of staff of Fifth Panzer Army in the Rhur pocket. Apart from brief intervals of illness I was on active service during the whole war and held operational appointments in in Poland, France, the Balkans, the Western Desert, Russia, Poland again, France again, and finally in the Ardennes and the Rhineland. I was present at many critical battles; I met some heroic and brilliant soldiers; and have seen tanks in action under all conditions of war, from the snowbound forests of Russia to the endless plains of the Western Desert.
In preparing this book I have received generous aide from brother officers in the German Army. In particular I am deeply indebted to my former commander, General Balck, for putting his personal papers at my disposal; they have provided invaluable, especially with regard to fighting Russia. I am very grateful to my friend Colonel Dingler of the German General Staff for allowing me to quote frequently from his narrative of the Stalingrad operations, and I must thank Lietenant General von Natzmer and my brother General Horst von Mellenthin for providing important documents relating to the Red Army.
I have endeavoured to give an objective account of the campaigns in which I took part. Although this book is written from the German point of view, I have not confined myself to German sources.Some excellent British and American histories have been published, and I have made full use of them. With the material now available it should be possible to attempt a serious assessment of the military events of 1939-45. I feel confident that soldiers of all nations are now anxious to establish the facts about World War II, and to avoid conclusions based on individual prejudice or patriotic sentiment.
This I have attempted to do.
F.W. Von Mellenthin
Johannesburg, South Africa
I feel kind of silly saying this, but of all the history texts and both assigned and leisure reading I've done (admittedly paling in comparison to you two, yet 1000 fold of the average "joe") it just never occurred to me that there were post war topic specific books told from the first person standpoint of the German command. I just didn't picture a post-Nuremberg writing career, and I SHOULD HAVE, given it was hardly the entire Waffen on trial (& on that score, I checked this guy out online and he was not a member of the Nazi political party nor on trial at Nuremberg the best I can tell -there were lower rank hearings if you remember - and that IS all I know of his history regarding Nazism).
So why tonight of all nights? "Should have read it in the first 72 hours, troglodyte" I can hear Titus saying. Well, I didn't, so bollix off. I was listening to that radio host I recommended to you, Hugh Hewitt, and he for 2 hours interviewed a novelist of a new book, Killing Rommel. This is a fictional piece of work based in real times, surrounded by real missions. As where Clancy creates an entirely fictional character base and set of events, this author, Steven Pressfield, inserts well written fictional characters into a historically accurate time period, with documented events. He was talking of the characters in his new book, an Irish war hero, whom was part of the very real first commissioned battle group of the SAS, the "Long Range Desert Group." These soldiers were a volunteer force that went up to 500 miles behind enemy lines, Rommel commanded enemy lines no less, armed with some carbine rifles and some explosives and in 1942 Chevrolet trucks, not Army issued, but bought in a Cairo dealership!! Along with jeeps acquired as a part of Lend-Lease and stripped airplane machine guns. No up-armaments, off the lot and into enemy territory! You gotta LOVE these guys! Now, I had previously heard of them and their mission (to harass the enemy) before, but as a side reference to a survivalist show, and in no great detail. His fictional characters are placed within a series of these real events with a fictional objective - killing General Erwin Rommel.You may wonder, "well who the hell is this author?" Fair enough, I've never heard of him before tonight, but I do know, after a little research, that his last book,The Gates of Fire (a recount of the battle at Thermompolye)is required reading at the Virginia Military Institute ... not to shabby indeed.
It spiked my interest immediately and I'll be ordering the book ASAP. Yes, I know, I know, the times and lives of those days needs no embellishment to be fascinating - I'm 100% with you on that. however, I think the Band of Brothers was so very captivating and ultimately moving because of the intimate way we came to know those characters personally. From his first smirk to his smile in Goering's liquor cellar, we could "feel" Nix's moods. It was great writing with good acting, and that's why I'm drawn to this book, and perhaps will catapult me into further first person narratives of our second World War.
I will be ordering the book as soon as I finish Panzer Battles, but I wanted to alert you to something kind of neat, at the site http://www.killingrommel.com/content/index.asp?id=long
the author of Killing Rommel takes through a 10 minute mini documentary of the Long Range Desert Group, and some interesting insights to Rommel, such as the motivating reason behind joining the conspirators to kill Hitler. Although he didn't participate in the plot they had come to him prior and asked if he would take the reigns of power after Hitler's assassination. He agreed, motivated by the desire to surrender Germany to the Americans before the Russian forces arrived. He dreaded the destruction the "Reds" would bring. Of course you gentlemen know that plot failed, and soon after two general with an armed escort were on Rommel's doorstep. They drove him to a wooded area and gave him the choice - a public trial of treason or the cyanide capsule. "The worst of Germany's countrymen did what no Allied soldier could ... kill Rommel."
"Man for man no one did as much damage to us as the SAS and the Long Range Desert Group." -Erwin Rommel
"Who dares winds, and not by strength, by guile.
-The SAS creed.
God bless those damned liberty defending desert warriors, from this century and the last.
Looking forward to the trip ........
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